


From the Start

by fairywriter



Series: And I See This All Again [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Brian Banner's A+ Parenting, Gaslighting, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt Tony Stark, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Panic Attacks, Protective Avengers, Tony is a badass, the avengers swear a lot in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-09 07:21:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13476510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairywriter/pseuds/fairywriter
Summary: Tony just wants to keep his head down and get through high school, he doesn't count on being blown up and kidnapped by terrorists, but he also doesn't count on a stubborn bunch of people who refuse to just let him die.Steve just wants to get a scholarship to college and a date with the cutest guy in his grade, he doesn't count on falling in love with a genius, nor does he count on that genius going missing but he won't stop fighting until Tony comes home. Good thing he has an eclectic group of friends to help him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A note on ages: The original Avengers, along with Sam, Bucky, and Loki, are all of a similar age in this fic. Around 15 - 16.
> 
> Also, I kind of suck at tagging but just be aware that the M rating is for past abuse and violence, implied torture and it's aftermath, Brian Banner, Howard Stark, and Obadiah Stane, and just plain bad language. So tread carefully.

.

.

“Seriously?” Bucky looked at his best friend incredulously “you want to invite Tony to our party?”.

 

Steve shrugged “he doesn’t get invited to much, I don’t think he has any friends”.

 

“Well yeah, that’s what happens when you’re an ass to everybody” Bucky retorted.

 

“Can’t be, you wouldn’t have any friends either in that case” Clint spoke up from his place on the rug in Steve’s bedroom.

 

“Burn!” Sam shouted “also, yeah, you kind of suck Bucky”.

 

“This is not pick on Bucky day” Natasha told them all.

 

“Thank you Natasha” Bucky kissed her cheek and blushed when Clint whistled.

 

“Pick on Bucky day is Thursday” Natasha continued, ignoring everything else as she filed her nails. Sam nearly fell off the bed laughing and even Steve had to stifle a smile. Clint chortled as he sat up and swung around so he was facing Steve and Bucky.

 

“Look, I’m all for taking in strays but Tony really is kind of an ass. Why don’t we invite that Bruce kid? I mean, he’s new and hasn’t made any friends yet. Plus, isn’t Thor bringing his brother? We don’t really need anyone else, it’s just a movie night with pizza and popcorn”.

 

“Clint has a point” Sam agreed “I mean, I get Loki, Thor doesn’t get to see him much since he moved in with their mom after the divorce. And Bruce is kind of quiet, he’ll have trouble making friends if someone doesn’t take him under their wing. But Tony just seems arrogant and unfriendly”.

 

“But we haven’t even tried to get know him” Steve disagreed.

 

“Yes we have and he’s rebuffed every attempt we’ve made” Bucky argued.

 

“We’ll put it to a vote” Steve said, crossing his arms in annoyance.

 

Bucky rolled his eyes “fine, but you’re the only one going to vote for him to come”.

 

“I say we should invite him” Natasha examined her nails carefully and then looked at Steve “just because he hasn’t been friendly doesn’t mean he doesn’t need a friend”.

 

Clint cocked an eyebrow at her “are you secretly studying psychology? Or just working on being even more cryptic than normal”.

 

Natasha pointed her nail file at him “careful Barton, I know where you sleep”.

 

Clint slumped down sulkily “I should hope so, we live in the same house” he muttered just loud enough for them all to hear.

 

“No sense in arguing, we know Natasha can outvote us all” Bucky grumbled as Natasha glared at Clint.

 

“Good” Steve said happily “okay, so with Tony, Loki, and Bruce, along with the usual gang, that’s nine people. We better order at least one more pizza than normal, maybe two”.

 

“Yeah, you get to figure that out” Sam told him “I’ve got to get home so if I’m driving anybody…” he trailed off as Natasha and Clint nodded at him.

 

“I guess I better go too” Bucky said “you’re also in charge of inviting the newbies” he told Steve.

 

.

* * *

 

.

 

Tony hadn’t been expecting to find anyone waiting for him at his locker, he didn’t have any friends here and wasn’t looking to make any anyway, but the newest kid at school was standing there nervously rubbing his hand along the strap of his backpack and shrinking into himself like he just wanted to hide. Tony knew that look, or thought he did anyway, but he wasn’t about to say anything, hell, he didn’t even know the other kid’s name.

 

“I do need in there sometime this morning” he pointedly nodded at his locker and the kid blushed furiously and jumped away from it.

 

“Sorry” he muttered and stared at the ground.

 

Tony sighed, it was like he’d kicked a puppy or something, Pepper would be so disappointed in him. He threw his stuff in his locker and grabbed what he needed for the morning before turning towards the new kid.

 

“Look, in case nobody has told you, hanging out with me would be social suicide at this school so you might want to find some other locker to stalk” he told him.

 

The kid looked up and blinked at him “um, I just… you uh… sorry” he blushed again and Tony decided to take pity on him.

 

“I’m really not that much of an asshole… okay, I _am_ , but I don’t bite” he paused as though thinking “I mean, unless you’re into that kind of thing” he said and waggled his eyebrows in the ridiculous manner that always made Rhodey laugh, sure enough the other kid cracked a tiny grin.

 

“Sorry” he apologized to Tony “I just saw that you dropped one of your pens yesterday and I wanted to give it back to you” he held out the very nice pen that had been a present from Pepper and that, quite honestly, Tony hadn’t even missed.

 

“Oops, maybe I really am that much of an asshole” Tony said “um, could you just, I don’t know, tuck that into my notebook?” he asked hopefully.

 

“Sure” the kid didn’t even ask why, which Tony was grateful for, he always got weird looks from people when he told them he didn’t like being handed things. Besides, the only people who actually took him seriously was Rhodey and Pepper, and they didn’t count since they both knew why.

 

“I’m Bruce” the kid told him “Bruce Banner. You’re in AP Chem right? I’m headed there now, want to walk with me?”.

 

Huh, well maybe a friend at the school wouldn’t be the absolute worst thing ever.

 

.

.

 

It only took until lunch for Tony to decide that, yes, having a friend at this school was the absolute worst thing _ever_. Sure, Bruce was cool, in fact he was as much of a science nerd as Tony and probably almost as smart. He had a dry sense of humor that Tony could really learn to appreciate and a gentle manner about him that was calming. In short, Tony really fucking liked him. But then he had to go and say “yes” when Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers of all people, asked them to a little weekend party.

 

“It’s just pizza and a movie” the tall blond Adonis said as he stood at their table with an oddly hopeful look on his face.

 

“Why did you do that?” Tony hissed as soon as Steve walked away with a delighted grin.

 

“Accept a party invitation?” Bruce cocked an eyebrow at his new friend “you said you didn’t have friends here but maybe they want to be friends and you just haven’t given them a chance”.

 

“There is no way that bunch really wants to be friends with me” Tony protested.

 

“You can’t actually know that” Bruce pointed out “besides, if you don’t want to go just don’t go, Steve took my answer to be from both of us but you didn’t actually say yes”.

 

Tony slumped in his seat “true…”

 

“But if you don’t go then I won’t either” Bruce told him.

 

“Why not?” Tony asked confusedly.

 

“Because I don’t like strangers and I wouldn’t feel comfortable by myself” Bruce explained.

 

“I hate to tell you this Bruce but you’ve been hanging out with a stranger all morning” Tony smirked at him as Bruce shook his head.

 

“Aren’t you the one who already proclaimed me your ‘Science Bro’?” Bruce grinned at him “you can argue all you want, but we both know we’re friends at this point”.

 

“Well, as my friend, you should know that throwing my own words back at me is only going to make me want to argue more” Tony told him “but I’ll let you get away with it this time” he smiled genuinely at Bruce.

 

“Please go with me Tony?” Bruce asked “I really would like to go”.

 

“That’s not fair” Tony huffed “you’re like a puppy, how am I supposed to say no?”.

 

“You’re not” Bruce said with a shrug “I can tell you want to go too, so why not go?”

 

.

* * *

 

.

 

“Tony!” the voice of Obadiah Stane cut through the house and Tony jumped away from his homework and jogged obediently towards Obie’s office.

 

“Hey Obie” he said with a smile as he saw his guardian.

 

Obie nodded at him “good day at school?” he asked.

 

“Yeah, I think I’ve made a friend” he said proudly “and I got invited to a party this weekend”.

 

Obie raised an eyebrow “now Tony, you know you have to be careful about new people, we don’t need you getting kidnapped again. And you know most people are only interested in what you can do for them anyway, they don’t want your friendship”.

 

Tony shook his head “Bruce is cool and he’s really smart, he understood me even when I started babbling about science”.

 

“Really? Well… maybe he’s genuine then” Obie said “but even so, a party is out, you need to be getting ready for the presentation Monday anyway”.

 

“Oh come on Obie” Tony whined “I know this stuff, these are my own designs, those stuffy guys at Stark Industries will love them”.

 

“Watch it Tony, I’m technically one of those ‘stuffy guys at Stark Industries’ you know” Obie told him “besides, you need to work on how you present things, they need to make sense to someone who isn’t as smart you. That’ll be important when you come into your inheritance and take over Stark Industries”.

 

“I’m just going to give the company to you anyway” Tony muttered “I don’t want to build weapons, I wish you would let me stop designing stuff for them”.

 

“You gotta earn your keep boy” Obie’s stern voice was harsh and Tony shrank a little.

 

“Yes Obie, sorry” he apologized.

 

“Don’t worry about it Tony” Obie clapped a hand on his shoulder and Tony willed himself to not flinch, Obie wasn’t Howard, Obie wouldn’t intentionally hurt Tony though he did seem to forget his own strength sometimes, luckily, this wasn’t one of those times.

 

“I’ll practice my presentation” Tony told him earnestly.

 

“Good, now I need to get ready for that dinner, you eat something and then get some rest” Obie ordered as he headed out the door.

 

Tony nodded at his back then headed to the kitchen to heat up a can of soup.

 

.

* * *

 

.

 

“They better not fuck this up” Obadiah growled at the woman sitting across from him.

 

“You worry too much” she told him “the Ten Rings are _very_ interested in completing your instructions, so long as they get what they asked for, there will be no problems”.

 

“Better not be, that kid is getting on my last nerve” Obadiah muttered.

 

“Tony Stark will not be your problem much longer” the woman said “I’ve arranged everything. But, I think you might want to consider what you’re going to do when his friends inevitably try to make trouble. Virginia Pott’s mother is a US senator, she could make things difficult if her daughter asked her to”.

 

“She won’t be a problem, I have some useful leverage on the elder Ms. Potts” Obadiah waved a hand dismissively “and I think, for her mother’s sake, little Pepper will behave herself too”.

 

“If you say so” the woman said doubtfully “but what about James Rhodes?”.

 

“He’s a college student with no money to his name, he can’t do much, but if an accident has to be arranged it wouldn’t be hard” Obadiah stated “trust me, I’ve thought of doing it for years now anyway, damn bastard keeps putting ideas into Tony’s head and no one but me is supposed to do that”.

 

The woman nodded “very well. By this time next week, Tony Stark will be dead, at least in the eyes of the public”.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the comments and kudos :)

.

 

Tony had every intention of telling Bruce first thing the next morning that he couldn’t go to the party after all, but his new friend’s bright smile when he saw Tony made that a bit difficult. So he spent most of the morning listening to Bruce wonder happily about what movie they were going to watch and whether they’d have a plain cheese pizza or not. Meanwhile Tony was cursing himself for being a coward, it was a popular refrain of Howard’s and Tony tried very hard to not hear the man’s voice in his head but it just got louder and louder until he couldn’t handle it anymore.

 

“Sorry” he managed to mutter at Bruce as he shot away from him and towards the bathroom, they’d been walking to AP Physics and Tony knew he’d be late now but he just had to get away for a few seconds. He slammed through the bathroom door and straight into a solid block of muscle.

 

“Ummph” he grunted as he fell backward onto his ass.

 

“Oh fuck! I am so sorry!”.

 

Tony looked up to see the blue eyes of Steve Rogers and he suddenly wished the earth would open up and just swallow him right now, or maybe aliens could come down and kidnap him, you know something, anything, that would stop him from making even more of a fool of himself in front of the stupidly handsome guy in front of him. The stupidly handsome guy that was holding a hand out towards Tony and looking at him with real concern on his face.

 

“God, Tony are you okay?” he asked.

 

Tony nodded mutely.

 

“I am so sorry I didn’t even see you,” Steve said.

 

“Why are you apologizing?” Tony asked as he finally took the offered hand “I’m the one that ran into you” he pointed out.

 

“True I guess” Steve answered “but you’re also the one who fell on the floor, you landed pretty hard” he easily pulled Tony to his feet and eyed him in concern.

 

“I’m fine, really” Tony assured him “nothing hurt but my pride”.

 

“Alright then” Steve grinned at him “well I’m actually glad you ran into me because I totally forgot I didn’t have your number, or Bruce’s, so I couldn’t let either of you know when the movie starts” he handed Tony his phone “could you put your number in? I’ll send you all the details and you can let me know what kind of pizza you’d like”.

 

Tony almost said no, almost told Steve that he couldn’t be there, but looking up at the bluest eyes he’d ever seen Tony realized something, he had a giant fucking crush on one of the hottest guys in school. It was such a ridiculous realization that he almost groaned out loud at his own stupidity. Instead he looked down at Steve’s phone and quickly punched in his number.

 

“Cheese pizza,” he said “that’s what Bruce and I would both like” Tony actually preferred some toppings on his pizza but he doubted Bruce would ask for the plain cheese even if Steve asked him.

 

Steve nodded “got it, one cheese pizza, lots of popcorn and soda, and whatever dessert my mom whips up for us. How does that sound?”.

 

“Like heaven” Tony answered truthfully and was rewarded with a dazzling smile.

 

“Glad you think so” Steve looked really happy “I guess I’ll see you later then?” he asked.

 

“Absolutely” Tony nodded and moved out of the way so Steve could leave.

 

Howard’s voice had quieted while he had been talking to Steve but as soon as the door swung shut behind the other boy Obie’s voice came to take its place, only Obie wasn’t calling Tony a coward, instead, he was yelling at Tony for being a failure, for messing up _again_ . He wasn’t supposed to go, he needed to practice for his presentation. _Failure._

 

“Shut up, shut up, shut up” he whimpered, covering his face and trying to shake away the voice “please stop, I’ll do better this time Obie, I promise” the door behind him was pushed open and Tony hurried into a stall to hide.

 

.

* * *

.

 

Clint really didn’t mean to spy on Steve and Tony, he made a real point of never spying on people in the bathroom, that was just weird. But in his defense, the bathroom was one of the few places he could come down out of the air vents without potentially getting caught by a teacher and he’d promised his adopted parents that he wouldn’t get caught.

 

At first Clint had been snickering at Steve’s sneaky way of getting Tony’s number, no one in their group of friends would be surprised to find out that Steve had a crush on the pint-sized genius. Clint didn’t get the appeal, he really did think Tony was an asshole, but Steve hadn’t crushed on anyone since Sharon had broken his heart almost a whole year ago so Clint guessed he wouldn’t complain too much if Steve and Tony started dating or something. Clint stiffened slightly as he heard what sounded very much like a loud sob, Steve had just left and no one else was in the bathroom, but surely Tony wasn’t…

 

“Shut up, shut up, shut up” Tony’s voice was full of pain and Clint carefully peered through the vent to see the other boy shaking as he continued to mutter, Clint didn’t get it all, something about an ‘Obie’ and a promise to do better that had Clint shaking off some of his own bad memories. He was just debating whether he should swing down and try to comfort Tony when the door was opened and Clint decided he’d better stay where he was. Tony left before the other boy but when the bathroom was finally empty Clint dropped from the ceiling.

 

“You missed two classes” came a voice from the doorway behind him and Clint yelped as he swung around.

 

“Tasha! This is the guys’ bathroom” he told her indignantly.

 

Natasha shrugged “and? You’re the only one here and we both know you don’t intend to use said facilities”.

 

Clint sighed but figured it wouldn’t do any good to argue so he changed the subject.

 

“Tony was just in here,” he told her what he’d witnessed and Natasha’s mouth puckered angrily.

 

“I was really hoping I was wrong,” she said.

 

“About what?” Clint asked her.

 

“That he probably has a few things in common with you and me,” she told him, “I think the whole ‘asshole’ thing is just an act, or, at least it’s mostly an act” she amended.

 

“Yeah I was kind of getting that vibe a few minutes ago, is that why you wanted him to come to movie night?” Clint asked.

 

Natasha shook her head “actually I just wanted Steve to get up the courage to talk to him. This complicates things though”.

 

Clint shrugged “not really, Steve’s a big boy and he can deal with whatever’s in Tony’s past”.

 

“What if it’s not really in the past?” Natasha asked, “I mean, what do we really know about Tony?”.

 

“Not much I guess” Clint admitted.

 

“Yeah, I tried Googling ‘Tony Stane’ and didn’t get any results” Natasha folded her arms and stared unhappily at Clint.

 

“If Tony needs help we could talk to our parents” Clint suggested, “Phil and Melinda wouldn’t leave any kid in a bad situation, we’re both good examples of that”.

 

“But they just adopted Leo and Skye” Natasha argued, “with a new toddler  _a_ _nd_ a new baby in the house they don’t need any more kids”.

 

“So maybe they’d find someone else, it’s not like this is something we can handle by ourselves. If we’re even right in the first place, why don’t we slow our roll a bit Natasha and just get to know Tony for a bit, maybe we’ll find that everything is perfectly alright at home and Tony is messed up for some other reason, kind of like Bucky” Clint said.

 

The red-head nodded reluctantly “alright, I just… I don’t like thinking that he could need help now and we’re not doing anything”.

 

Clint held out his arms and waited until Natasha threw her arms around him before enveloping her in a hug.

 

“That’s because you have a heart of gold and want to help everybody” he whispered in her ear “just one more reason to be glad you’re my best friend”.

 

Natasha’s smile was a little watery as she pulled away “love you too Clint” she tossed it airly over her shoulder as she pushed her way through the door.

 

.

* * *

.

 

Bruce hadn’t known what to do when Tony had darted away from him on the way to class, what if he was sick? Should Bruce follow him? Tony was different from anyone Bruce had ever known and he really didn’t want to mess up the one friendship he’d found at his new school by being weird when all Tony was doing was using the restroom.

 

“Hey, Bruce right?” the voice interrupted Bruce’s internal debate and he started to turn towards it until he was shoved into a row of lockers.

 

“No no no” he muttered fearfully as he clenched his fists and tried to stay calm.

 

“Leave him alone!” a girl’s voice called out, sharp and commanding, and the hands that had been holding Bruce in place jerked back and he turned quickly to see his savior stalk up beside him.

 

“If you have a problem with Bruce then you have a problem with me” the blonde’s voice was threatening and Bruce was glad he wasn’t on the other end of her glare. She waited until the bully moved away then turned towards Bruce.

 

“Sorry about him, he’s never learned how to properly welcome someone to our school,” she told him with a smile.

 

Bruce smiled shyly at her “thanks” he told her fervently as the green slowly edged away from his vision.

 

“No probs,” she said, “I’m a senior so it’s kind of my job to look after you younger punks”.

 

“Pretty sure most seniors don’t think that way,” Bruce said.

 

“Yeah well,” she shrugged “I’m just way cooler than most seniors” she winked at him.

 

“Sis, stop flirting with my new classmate” the boy that stopped in front of them scowled at her before turning to Bruce.

 

“Pretty sure you’re going to be late anyway but you might want to hurry up and get to class,” he said.

 

“I am not flirting Bucky,” the girl told him “unless he wants me to be” she grinned at Bruce again “anyway, I’ll see you later Bruce”.

 

Bruce tried very hard to not watch her walk away but he obviously wasn’t succeeding if the look on Bucky’s face was anything to go by.

 

“Sorry?” he said weakly.

 

Bucky shrugged “Carol has that effect on people. Come on, I’ll walk you to class”.

 

“Actually, I was waiting for Tony” Bruce nodded towards the bathroom door.

 

Bucky frowned “pretty sure I saw him walk by a few minutes ago actually”.

 

“Oh” Bruce’s shrank a little “guess he really wanted to get to class,” he said.

 

“Yeah sure” Bucky gave him a weird look.

 

.

* * *

.

 

The cool air felt good on Tony’s hot cheeks and he sighed as he dropped his chin onto his arms and stared down at the surface of the picnic table that was his favorite lunch spot. He hadn’t gone to class after leaving the bathroom and he hadn’t really been paying attention when he’d rushed down the hallway, he hoped he hadn’t walked right past Bruce but he honestly didn’t know.

 

“And this is just one more reason you shouldn’t have friends” he muttered, there was no sense denying that he was a terrible friend and no one should have to put up with him.

 

“I don’t know, I think having friends is usually considered a good thing” it was one of Steve’s friends that sat down across from Tony and began unpacking his lunch.

 

“Um,” Tony raised an eyebrow “you know there are plenty of empty tables right? Plus, eavesdropping is rude”.

 

“Who’s dropping eaves?” the guy replied cheerfully “besides, why would I sit alone when you’re here? Pretty sure we’re going to be best buddies”.

 

“I highly doubt that,” Tony told him.

 

“The name’s Clint,” the asshole said as he totally ignored Tony’s words “heard you’re coming to Steve’s place Saturday for the movie and some grub”.

 

“Yes,” Tony said cautiously.

 

“Cool” Clint was enthusiastically digging into his bag “hey, you got any food allergies?” he asked abruptly.

 

“No” Tony leaned away from him and looked around, was this some kind of prank?

 

“Great!” Clint beamed at him as he threw a bag of cookies across the table “my dad always makes way too many sweets, I think he likes hearing all the compliments from my friends when they come over, so you can totally have that whole bag if you want” he grabbed an apple and began to munch on it.

 

“Stop scaring him Clint” the boy that sat down beside the blond was another that Tony recognized as a friend of Steve’s.

 

“Sam” the boy introduced himself.

 

“I know,” Tony told him “we have gym together”.

 

Sam nodded “mind if I steal one of those cookies? Mr. Coulson really does make the best cookies, even Mrs. Roger’s cookies aren’t as good, don’t tell Steve I said that though”.

 

Tony shoved the bag at him “okay, what gives? Why are you guys sitting with me?” he asked.

 

“Cause you look like you’re having a bad day,” Clint told him through a mouthful of his sandwich.

 

“Seriously dude, swallow first” Sam shook his head at Clint.

 

“I’ve had plenty of bad days, pretty sure it’s part of the high school experience” Tony grumbled.

 

The sound of a car’s tires squealing grated on Tony’s ears and he automatically looked towards the parking lot as a car careened past and he got a glimpse of a gun pointed out of the window. He stared at it in horror, not even attempting to move, he felt a hand on his leg and suddenly he was under the table and Clint was shielding him with his own body as Sam turned the table on its side and cautiously peered around it.

 

“Stay down” Clint ordered Tony as he grabbed his own cellphone and pressed a button.

 

“I think they’re gone. Did they even fire?” Sam asked Clint in confusion.

 

Clint shook his head sharply “probably saw they couldn’t get a clear shot, shouldn’t have advertised they were here if they really wanted to hit us”.

 

“Tony?” Sam’s tone was gentle.

 

“I’m sorry” Tony whispered, avoiding their gaze. He didn’t see the confused look they shared over his head.

 

“It’s not your fault that someone decided to be a fucking idiot and terrorize some kids” Clint tried to comfort him.

 

Tony didn’t get the chance to answer as the sound of sirens filled the air and a black SUV pulled into the parking lot.

 

“Clint?” the woman who jumped from the vehicle looked like some kind of super spy with her all-black outfit and gun but her worried tone said _Mom_ even before Clint managed to get the word out.

 

“Hey Mom” Clint waved from behind the table “two guys, at least one had a gun, no shots fired. Should be on the lookout for a blue late-model Chevy Malibu”.

 

“How are you so calm?” Tony certainly wasn’t calm, in fact, he was probably well on his way to a full-blown panic attack.

 

Clint shrugged “you don’t really want to know”.

 

Tony would’ve argued, because yes he definitely did, but he was too busy trying to breathe and suddenly that seemed like a battle he was losing.

 

Clint’s suddenly panicked shout of “Mom” was the last thing Tony heard as he pitched forward into Sam’s arms.

 

.


End file.
